Best friends forever

It's time again for the newest challenge at http://whatisyourfavething.blogspot.com/ - favorite friend. Be sure to check out the incredible and varied DT layouts (have I told you how much I love working with these talented ladies?!) and the winners from the last challenge - and don't forget Julie's funny and charming ramblings. This layout is about my husband Dan - many years together and still best friends. I used Cosmo Cricket paper (March manu of the month at Scrapgal) and some little items that I received from other TAAFOMFT DT members - Julie, Jeanet, and Deana.

I have been sewing and painting like a fiend - along with finishing up DT work for the beginning of March. I will be doing the Galblog every Tuesday for a while so be sure to check it out.

Thanks for reading and hope you have a great day!
ttfn
Chris

Prima prima prima

Prima love and a fabulous giveaway!!!!!!!! Go there now!

Inspiration from my yard

I was inspired by the colors of some of my azaleas and also by a sketch on the TA/Websters's Pages blogpost so here's my layout - join us on thesketchgal and show us your take on this sketch. I glimmer misted the WP paper - the title reads "Never forget to look up"

I have had another busy day - today I won (not quite the same as winning something for free. LOL!) some beautiful yarn on ebay, ordered some more yarn, ordered some fabric to make aprons, and designed several aprons to put in my etsy shop - I plan to open the shop in about 2 weeks with aprons, other fabric items, and paintings. Got any ideas for me?

Hope you are having a fun day or at least a good one.

ttfn,

Chris
p.s. just a note - unfortunately I received notification yesterday that Harlee-quinnz Designs has gone out of business - "due to the economy"

Colors in my world

Spring is here - azaleas blooming in my yard

an apron I made for the February challenge at Tie One On - black and white

More tomorrow!

Cameo bracelets

I have a post on The Crop Spot with a little tutorial on how to make these bracelets from items in the February Sampler - I just love those Webster's Pages cameos, and the velvet ribbons are luscious! Be sure while you are there to leave a comment on the earlier post about the giveaway - it's a good one.

Hope you are having a fun weekend. Yesterday I received my package from Scrapgal with new Cosmo Cricket and Dear Lizzy toys along with some paints and other stuff. I did 2 layouts yesterday and a wallhanging. This morning I went out to the beach, to the Farmer's Market, the art museum for a bit (just love their library), and the grocery store. Now I have to go into work for a while and then pick up a dvd and some books for Dan at the main library. I am making split pea soup for dinner (I have the best recipe that I found in an old Cook's magazine, and tomorrow Dan requested meat loaf so I am making it in the crockpot -another fantastic recipe that was given to me by our nutritionist where I used to work. You wrap it up a special way in foil so it comes out perfect! Maybe I should start a cooking blog! LOL!!!!!!

Thanks for reading - depending on what I get done tonight, I might be back tomorrow.

ttfn

Chris

Challenges and giveaways

Be sure to check out the latest challenge at http://candyshoppedesigns.blogspot.com/ - it's all about love - I actually posted my layout on my 2/14 blog post because my layout is my card to my DH.

Also be sure to leave a comment on thegalblog to be in the drawing for an apron that I made:

I posted a short tutorial on how to make it - very simple and quick.

Yesterday I spent the day doing my own "crop" and finished 4 layouts for March DT assignments and several pages of a mini book for a March project. Today I am trying to finish 2 paintings so I can list some paintings on etsy. Hopefully I will receive my "box" from Scrapgal tomorrow and I will be doing the happy dance and playing with my new toys. On Saturday I will have a blog post up at  http://www.scrapbookingsuppliesrus.com/

for two bracelets made from items in the February Sampler. Be sure to check it out! 

Hope you are having a great week!

ttfn,

Chris

what's your favorite memory?

Be sure to check out the latest challenge at These are a few of my favorite things - what is your favorite memory? I have so so many wonderful memories that I couldn't pick just one so I used photos of my charm bracelets which have lots of charms that remind me of people, places, and things in my life. The patterend paper is Kiki, which I won a while back, the flowers and felt are Prima, the cameo is Webster's Pages, and the alphas are October Afternoon. Be sure to show us your favorite memory by February 27 - we have 2 prizes!!!!

Happy He{art} Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Random thoughts

Saw these toadstools/mushrooms/whatever growing on a Live Oak tree in front of the library - don't you love the colors? I am inspired to paint them

My Be Mine Valentine wallhanging (seen in a few posts back) made the Catwalk at SIS this week.

We are having a year long Top 10 challenge at Scrapgal, and February's Top 10 is to list your Top 10 tv shows; but since I rarely watch tv, I decided to do my 10 favorite books. Come on over and show us your Top 10!!!!!!

Amazing Amy over at These are a few of my favorite things has created 5 bags of vintage goodies to give away as RAKs . Just leave us a comment before the 19th about what is your absolute favorite things in the world. And don't forget, the new challenge will be up on the 15th.

This is a photo of the quilt I made from fabrics I got from my mother before she passed - not really my style but every time I look at it, I am reminded of her - I call it Hazel's Garden.

Thanks for reading and have a great Saturday. Even though it is cold here, I am off to the beach - it is a free day at the Art Museum and I also want to take some pix of the ocean - then a Starbucks or Panera's.

See you tomorrow with a Valentine!

ttfn

Chris

The February Sampler and a little experiment with lighting

Poor Holly over at Scrapbookingsuppliesrus has water in her phone lines so she has been without internet for a bit so she asked us to go ahead and post the Feb Sampler (and it's awesome). I did the above layout with the kit - so loving the velvet ribbons and the vintage lace and the buttons and the fabric and the paper and the Maya Mist and the Stickles and the............ I have to admit I was inspired by Jessica Prosper's LO at XOXO so I lifted her idea to layer fabrics and fibers

It's a super kit with so many toys - don't you love the Webster's Pages silhouettes????

I decided to so a little experiment with lighting when I was photographing the kit. Which of the two photos below do you like the best - for lighting that is?

My personal choice is the bottom one - so much more romantic and vintage looking; however, the colors are much truer in the top one.

Hope you are having a good day (despite the snow for many of you).

Thanks for looking

ttfn

Chris

You can never have too much he{art}

Acrylic paints on canvas, sequin waste, doily, H Swapp mirror bird and tapes. The photo is of a garden arch covered with bouganvillea that we saw in Hopetown, Abaco, the Bahamas some years ago. 

Another collection - candy heart boxes - there are more scattered around the living room.

I get out lots of my thrift store pretties to decorate for Valentine's Day.

Yesterday I ended up working most of the day doing accounting work for the gift shop so the only crafty things I did were to teach myself the knitted drop stitch so I can begin my new free range scarf (Dan didn't get home until 6 so I knitted while I wined) and after dinner I continued to hand quilt my watercolor quilt. I am determined to finish it by April 1. Today I work at the book store and again on Friday - so it will be a busy week

Hope you are having a great week.

thanks for reading and always always thank you for commenting. I really enjoy and appreciate your comments.

ttfn

Chris

Knit one purl one and how much is enough?

I have been feeling the need to knit lately so I wanted to start a new project (see earlier post with photo of the Indonesian Teak Scarf from Jane Thornley). I received the Judi&co Luminesse ribbon yarn which I purchased on ebay and amazingly I went through my meager yarn stash of leftovers, and found some wonderful yarns that will work beautifully with it. I will probably cast on tomorrow. Tonight we will be watching the Superbowl - GO SAINTS! and having guacamole and chips, and ribs!!!! Yum! 

I am always fascinated to see photos of people's studios or scraprooms or whatever. I am fortunate to have a room in which to paint, sew, scrap, whatever. I have now been on a Not Buying It plan for over a year so I rarely buy on whims anymore and I have been diligent in using up older items. I also read on Julie's blog that she keeps most of her scrapping stuff in a tote so she can easily go to crops and that really set me to thinking about how I had mine stored - a bit here, a bit there.

So I have been organizing my supplies by craft and here is my scrapping stuff - the top photo shows the bin with all of my card stock, patterned papers, alphas, and a container filled with flowers and other small embellishments.  In the middle is a box with my latest DT stuff to use this month. To the left is a 3drawer chest with ribbons, a bin with buttons, a bin with brads and small metal items, a bin with journaling cards, chipboard, etc., and on top is a bin with acrylic paints, glimmer mist, stickles, and my trusty label maker. The middle photo is a closer view of those same containers.

This little house (bought at a thrift store and someday to be altered) holds my stamps and inks. I also have a notebook with the larger flat clear stamps filed in it in plastic page protectors - and that's it. I guess I am not keeping Michael's in business. LOL!

The main reason I am showing this is that you really don't need a lot of stuff to be creative. Creativity and authenticity come from within - I think we all get caught up in the merchandiser's spin on what we "need" - always something new, but what we really need is time to dream and time to create.

Anyway.....thanks for reading and hope you have a great Sunday.

I will be back in a couple of days with some new things to show you.

ttfn

Chris

he{art} sessions

"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart - pursue those."

-Michael Nolan

I am enjoying Rebecca Sower's heart sessions so much - the small tokens of love that she creates - that I decided to post some he{art}s of my own.

The above wallhanging was made for Scrapgal and a short tutorial is posted on The Gal Blog.

I painted and collaged this canvas last February in a class by Wilna Furstenberg.

 

Azaleas from my yard and a table runner I made many years ago.

I finished another small watercolor this morning - Camillias - and then quickly sketched some Azaleas and began to work on that. Tomorrow I am going to a quilt show with some friends and hope to get some inspiration. Yesterday I spent much of the day basting the layers of the queen-size floral watercolor quilt that I hope to get finished this spring for our bed. What a job!!!!

Today is a beautiful day here, tomorrow is supposed to be windy, and Saturday rainy. 

thanks for reading and hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are!

ttfn

Chris

A new month and new challenges!

Ah February morn! cool and rainy - a pot of Russian tea made in my pink and black cat teapot and drunk from my pink Victoria bone china mug - a wonderful day to stay inside and create!

I crafted the above necklace from a large silk flower that I purchased with several others at a thrift store. I took the flower apart and sprayed the petals with black cherry glimmer mist and then sewed them back together making sure to fold them over to the back leaving a place through which to pull the ribbons that I used as the necklace. I added some netting and attached a vintage heart pin on top. I created this necklace for the current Artz de Scrap challenge - to alter an artificial flower. You have until the end of February for this challenge! Have fun and try something outside the box - or should I say, outside the flower!

This layout is for the new Candy Shoppe Designs challenge - something for the single girls and primarily to use an arrow in your layout. So, do you think chocolate is better than a man? Sometimes I wonder......... Be sure to get us your layout or project by the 14th! We have a great prize!

The next two layouts are for the Scrapgal Manufacturer of the Month contest - this month is Little Yellow Bicycle, and both of my layouts are done with LYB Baby Safari girl papers. The above photo is of a house in New Providence, Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas, and the alphas are Thickers and the flowers are Prima.

On this layout of my niece, I also used die cuts from Pink Paislee and Jenni Bowlin, and some stickers from K&Co. The animals came from a set of African papers and embellishments that I purchased at a thrift store. You have until the end of February to post your LYB layouts and projects on Scrapgal! We offer a prize at the end of the month.

I am sewing the borders on to a watercolor-style quilt top that I made about 2 years ago. Hopefully I can finish it by the end of February so that we can use it on our bed - since it is queen-size, it is quite a bit of work! I meant to post the quilt I finished made of my mother's fabrics but that will have to wait until another day - it's so dark it would be hard to get a good photo of it.

 Tomorrow is the traditional day to celebrate Imbolc, Candlemas, or Brigid's Day (in the same way, it's Groundhog day). It is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and symbolizes the end of winter and the beginning of spring.As always, I will light candles and say a prayer of thankfulness for my many blessings. When I lived in more northern climes, I always felt tired and depressed at this time year, longing for the return of the sun and the warmer weather. This little ceremony always cheered me and made me feel that winter would soon end. In Jacksonville the azaleas begin to bloom and even in Colorado we would begin to see crocuses and grape hyacinths by the end of February - their bright cheery blossoms blooming definitely through the snow. It's time to watch movies and read books that are set in warm sunny places. Hope you have a great day and think happy spring thoughts!

 thanks for reading and have a great week.

ttfn

Chris